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Sydney FC end Brisbane roar's record run

Brisbane Roar's record run of 36 matches unbeaten came to an end at the weekend when the A-League champions lost 2-0 to Sydney FC in foul weather in front of 11,500 fans at a suburban rugby league stadium.

Published

4 December 2011

The run, the longest ever in Australian professional sport, had given soccer rare backpage profile in a country where cricket, rugby league, Australian Rules and even rugby union are more popular.

Australia midfielder Brett Emerton scored a freak goal from a corner to double Sydney's advantage 20 minutes into Sunday afternoon's contest after teenager Dimitri Petratos had given the home side the lead inside the first minute.

Brisbane manager Ange Postecoglou said Sydney, the 2009/10 A-League champions, had simply been too good for his side and declined to blame the absence through injury of influential German playmaker Thomas Broich for the loss.

"It doesn't matter if we have Thomas or Lionel Messi out there... sometimes the opposition is better than you on the day and they were today so full credit to them," he told the A-League website.

"We don't make excuses, we tried hard enough, the effort was there and we still tried to play our football under different conditions, but it just wasn't to be.

"It's all part of sport, it's part of what we do so it's not a surprise but it hasn't happened often to us obviously."

Brisbane, who won last season's A-League final in front of 50,000 fans at their home stadium Lang Park, had last tasted defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory in September 2010.

The Queensland club had passed the 35-match record of the Eastern Suburbs rugby league club, which was set in the 1930s, with a 2-1 win over the Newcastle Jets the previous weekend.

The Roar maintained their position on top of the A-League despite Sunday's defeat, three clear of the Central Coast Mariners with 20 points after nine games. Sydney moved up to third on 14 points.

"There's no relief because the record's over... sometimes when you get on a run like ours people expect you to win all the time but that's not how sport works," Postecoglou added.

"That's our second loss in 42 games, I mean that's a fair run we've had and we've just got to keep going."